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Apr
23
2021
By The African Mirror
Tunisia runs out of intensive care beds

Tunisia runs out of intensive care beds

COVID-19
TUNISIAN hospitals have run out of intensive care beds amid a surge in COVID-19 cases, a member of the independent scientific committee that advises the government said yesterday. Amenallah Messadi told Reuters the health system had been pushed to the point of collapse by a rise in cases driven by the more infectious coronavirus variant first detected in Britain. The scientific committee was considering whether to recommend another border closure to avoid the spread of another variant first detected in Brazil, he added. Tunisia briefly closed its borders during the first wave of the virus. "The situation is very critical,…
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Jun
09
2021
By The African Mirror
HIV 40 years on: four action points to end AIDS as a health threat

HIV 40 years on: four action points to end AIDS as a health threat

HEALTH
ON 5 June 1981 a short report of five cases of pneumocystis pneumonia in young homosexual men in Los Angeles marked the discovery of AIDS, the first pandemic of the 20th century caused by a completely new virus, HIV. GILLES VAN CUTSEM, Honorary Research Associate, Centre for Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Research, University of Cape Town Since then HIV has killed 33 million and infected 76 million people. Of the 38 million people living with HIV 27 million are now on life-saving treatment. This is a three-fold increase since 2010. But it still falls short of the global target of…
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Jun
08
2021
By The African Mirror
COVID-19 crisis makes electricity too costly for millions in Africa, Asia

COVID-19 crisis makes electricity too costly for millions in Africa, Asia

COVID-19
THE economic toll from the COVID-19 pandemic has left more than 25 million people in Africa and Asia unable to afford electricity, threatening a global goal to provide power to everyone by 2030, international agencies have on Monday. Two-thirds of those affected were in sub-Saharan Africa, deepening disparities in the region's access to electricity, according to an annual global report tracking progress on sustainable energy. Millions struggled to pay for essential electricity services to power lighting, fans, televisions and mobile phones as the COVID-19 crisis hit jobs and incomes in 2020, the report said. This threatens progress in the last…
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Jun
09
2021
By The African Mirror
Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

Latest on the worldwide spread of the coronavirus

COVID-19
JAPAN is leaning towards allowing domestic spectators at the Olympics despite the pandemic, media reports said, while Australia's second-largest city Melbourne will exit a hard lockdown as planned tomorrow. DEATHS AND INFECTIONS * Eikon users, see COVID-19: MacroVitals for a case tracker and summary of news EUROPE * The European Union's executive body urged caution in the face of calls for a public-private scheme for insuring companies against economic lockdowns in future pandemics. * Some Russian drugmakers say they will only manufacture the single-dose Sputnik Light COVID-19 vaccine for the time being because it is easier to make than Sputnik…
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May
13
2021
By The African Mirror
“How the WHO, states failed on COVID-19”

“How the WHO, states failed on COVID-19”

COVID-19
STEPHANIE NEBEHAY THE International Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response issued its report yesterday into the global handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, calling for a new transparent global system to be set up for investigating disease outbreaks. The report, "COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic", is to be debated at the World Health Organization's annual ministerial assembly opening on May 24. Here are the main findings and recommendations of the panel of independent experts led by former New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark and former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: FAILINGS 1) The World Health Organization (WHO) should have declared…
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May
13
2021
By The African Mirror
Should my teen get the COVID-19 vaccine?

Should my teen get the COVID-19 vaccine?

COVID-19
MICHAEL ERMAN THE U.S. Food and Drug Administration has authorized Pfizer and BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccine for use in children as young as 12, widening the country's inoculation program as vaccination rates have slowed significantly. The following information should help parents deciding whether to inoculate their adolescent children. IS THE VACCINE SAFE FOR 12-15 YEAR OLDS? The FDA found the vaccine to be safe and effective in Pfizer's clinical trial. That trial included 2,260 participants in that age group, half of whom received the same vaccine dose given to adults. The other half got a placebo as a comparison group. The…
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Jun
09
2021
By The African Mirror
How The Gambia beat trachoma, an infection that causes blindness

How The Gambia beat trachoma, an infection that causes blindness

HEALTH
THE government of The Gambia recently announced that the country had eliminated trachoma, a highly contagious eye disease, after years of hard work by health workers, nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) and communities. MUSA MUTALI, Lecturer of Optometry, University of Benin In The Gambia, the disease accounted for 17% of the reported blindness in a national survey in 1986. The prevalence of trachoma has dropped from 0.1% to 0.02% in the last 10 years. Current estimates show a prevalence of less than 0.2% in adults aged over 15 years. This is about one case per 1,000 people. Trachoma has been described as…
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May
13
2021
By The African Mirror
How can we stop the next pandemic? Here’s what a WHO panel recommends

How can we stop the next pandemic? Here’s what a WHO panel recommends

HEALTH
STEPHANIE NEBEHAY A new global system should be set up to respond faster to disease outbreaks, which could ensure that no future virus causes a pandemic as devastating as COVID-19, an independent World Health Organization review panel said yesterday. The experts found crucial flaws in the global response in early 2020 - including a delay in declaring an emergency, a failure to impose travel restrictions and an entire "lost month" when countries neglected to respond to warnings - that let the virus quickly spread into a catastrophic pandemic. To address those problems, the WHO should be given the power to…
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May
12
2021
By The African Mirror
WHO reviewing Seychelles COVID-19 data after fully vaccinated people test positive

WHO reviewing Seychelles COVID-19 data after fully vaccinated people test positive

COVID-19
THE World Health Organization has announced that it was reviewing coronavirus data from Seychelles after the health ministry said more than a third of people who tested positive for COVID-19 in the past week had been fully vaccinated. Both the ministry and the WHO stressed that the majority of those who tested positive had not been vaccinated or had only received one dose, that no one who had died had been fully vaccinated and that nearly all of those needing treatment for severe or critical cases were unvaccinated. But the WHO said it was closely following the situation in the…
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Jun
08
2021
By The African Mirror
Egypt to produce Sinovac vaccine

Egypt to produce Sinovac vaccine

COVID-19
EGYPT has received 500,000 doses of China's Sinovac coronavirus vaccine airport sources said, as the health ministry said local production of the Chinese vaccine will start in mid-June. Egypt received raw materials for the production of two million Sinovac doses in May, after signing an agreement to produce the vaccine locally and distribute it in Egypt and other African countries. The first vials are due to be produced on June 15 and up to six weeks will be needed for checks before they are put to use in vaccination centres, Health Minister Hala Zayed told the private MBC Masr TV…
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